


Promises

by Caro_the_Poet



Series: Between Scenes [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Episode: s06e15 Paradise Lost, F/M, I have a problem, that's pretty much it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caro_the_Poet/pseuds/Caro_the_Poet
Summary: He knew Sam would bring him home.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Series: Between Scenes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2192922
Comments: 21
Kudos: 56





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Companion piece to _Hope To Live On_. Recommend reading that one first!

Trapped. On a deserted planet with no way home. A planet on which the former residents are all dead, and not of natural causes.

Jack’s been in worse situations, he thinks, but at the moment he’s struggling to come up with one. He sits down on the shore of the lake he discovered in his preliminary explorations. He dismantles, cleans, and then reassembles his P-90. Something to pass the time. 

Something to help him ignore Harry Maybourne, sitting to his right and shoving lettuce-like leaves into his mouth.

Harry regards him with that perpetually self-satisfied smirk that always makes Jack want to punch his face in. “So,” he says casually, “you worried you’ll be stuck here with me forever?” 

“Nope,” says Jack, clicking the last piece of the P-90 into place. “Carter’ll figure it out. She’ll have us back before they even know we’re gone.” He sets the gun down and looks out over the water. 

“Carter, huh?” Harry plops down next to Jack and bites into another leaf. “What’s the deal with you two, anyway?” 

Jack tenses, stopping his hands from balling into fists just in the nick of time. “The _deal_ , Harry? She’s part of my team. My second-in-command.” He hopes he sounds properly dismissive. 

Harry-- _the rat bastard_ \--just grins at him. “Oh, come _on_ , Jack. I may be many things, but I’m not an idiot--” 

“-- _highly_ debatable--” 

“--and it’s pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that she’s more than just any member of your team.” 

Jack’s hands tingle the way they do when he’s about to go into a firefight. “Maybourne, shut your fucking mouth or I _will_ shoot you.” 

Harry scoots away from Jack but his eyes still twinkle with an antagonistic light. “Fine. Clearly you’re sensitive about this, so I won’t bring it up again.” 

Jack reaches for his P-90 and Harry leaps to his feet with his hands up. “Okay, _okay_ \--I’m going.” 

Harry disappears into the brush and Jack huffs in both relief and frustration. Of _course_ he’s ended up trapped here with that stupid, smarmy son of a bitch. The universe really seems to get a kick out of screwing him over in the most dickish of ways. 

He sighs and tries not to think of Carter. Or at least not think of her in any context other than to know she’s coming up with a solution to bring him--no, _them_ \--home. 

He just has to make it through this without committing murder. 

*  
When Jack staggers through the door of the Tok’ra ship, supported by Jacob and covered in blood and dirt, Sam’s first instinct is to run to him and crush him in her arms. 

But she doesn’t. She holds herself at attention and prays that the emotion flooding her body isn’t displayed on her face. She doesn’t realize she is shaking until she feels Teal’c’s steady hand against her arm, and she sends a brief glance his way. _Thank you_. Teal’c gives an almost imperceptible nod and takes his hand away. 

Jack and Jacob have reached her now, and when Jack’s eyes meet hers she offers a crooked smile, all she can manage without breaking down. He holds her gaze for just a moment longer than necessary, and says, “At ease, Major.” Then he turns away as Jacob leads him to a spot on the floor, piled with soft blankets. 

“Got some first aid supplies here,” Jacob says apologetically. “It’s not much, but it’ll have to do until we get you back to the SGC.” 

“I’m fine,” Jack protests, but Jacob rolls his eyes and ignores him, pulling bandages and antiseptic out of a nearby bag. 

Harry Maybourne strolls in, shooting her a grin like the smug bastard that he is. Of _course_ he’s not injured, Sam thinks; of _course_ Jack is the one bloodied and hurting in the corner. She doesn’t look at him. If she does, she might kill him. 

* 

She finds Jack later, sitting against the wall, alone in the engine room. One knee is drawn up toward his chest with his arm resting on it, while his newly-bandaged leg stretches out in front of him. His eyes are closed. She thinks she’s never seen him so tired, so still. 

She sits next to him against the wall, and he opens one eye to look at her. “Carter.” 

“Hi, sir,” she says. She pinches her lips together and tries to take a deep breath without it being obvious. Her relief is so overwhelming that if she speaks any more her emotions might spill out through her eyes, and that can’t happen. Not here. 

“You found me.” 

She glances at him, and he has both eyes fixed on her now, his expression guarded and uncertain. “Of course I did.” She allows herself a small smile. “Did you doubt me?” 

“Not for a moment.” He brings his hand down the floor next to hers, close enough that their fingers just touch. “Thank you.” 

She looks down at the floor and moves her hand so it’s resting on top of his, and brushes her thumb over his knuckles. “You promised you’d never leave me. If I didn’t find you and bring you home, then you’d be a liar and I knew that would piss you off. So.” 

She glances at him again, and his mouth is quirked into a half smile, his eyes twinkling at her. “So it was about my reputation, then.” 

“Well, of _course,_ sir. What other reason would I have had?” 

They share a laughing gaze, and he turns his hand up and threads his fingers through hers, just for a moment. Then he releases her and sighs. 

She looks away. “I may have lost my temper on Dr. Lee.” 

“Why?” 

“Because he wanted to give up.” She bites her bottom lip, trying to decide if she should say anything more. “I don’t think there was a moment in the entire month you were gone that I wasn’t thinking of you. I _couldn’t_ give up.” 

“Carter--” 

“I know. I know.” She brushes her hands over her eyes quickly so he won’t see the tears beginning to gather. She takes a deep breath and pushes to her feet. “I’m just...I’m glad you’re home, sir. _So_ glad.” 

“After surviving seven years of battling aliens, I wasn’t about to let myself die at the hands of Harry-fucking-Maybourne.” He smiles grimly. 

They’ve said far more than they should, and it’s still not enough. It’s never enough. She’s just about to leave the room when his voice, soft and serious now, stops her. 

_“Sam.”_

She looks at him over her shoulder from the doorway, and his eyes are sad, like they were when he came to her house after the alien entity had been in her head. But he doesn’t say anything more. 

It doesn’t matter. She understands. “The world is always going to need saving, sir,” she says with a heavy sigh. 

“Maybe it won’t always need _us.”_

She shakes her head, because he knows as well as she does that neither of them are quitters and as long as the choice is between each other and saving the world, they’ll choose to save the world every time. 

But she manages a small smile anyway. “Well, when it doesn’t, you know where to find me.” 

“Always,” says Jack. 


End file.
